I don’t even know where to start, but I’m just gonna start anywhere and I shall trust your ability to piece the scattered plots together to make sense. I’m gon’ be ranting about my early days in Dublin, Ireland.
After being in the UK for 5+ years for my postgraduate studies, I got an opportunity to work as a Research Fellow with Europe’s leading centre for research and education in cybersecurity, cybercrime and digital forensics in Ireland. I was so excited for the opportunity to be part of cutting-edge research and collaborating with consortiums I could only dream of networking with.
The challenging part is that taking up this job would require relocating from the UK (which has been more like home for me) to Dublin, Ireland – a country I have never visited or lived. I started plans for relocation and the main part was getting an apartment. Fortunately, one of my church members in the UK also relocated to Dublin for a job and she became my plug for accommodation vibes. I found accommodation online that looked decent and told my friend to go view it. She went for the viewing and told me of the goodness of the accommodation. She told me how the accommodation is better than hers in terms of proximity to work and the city centre. I was so glad on hearing the news.
I called the Landlord and told him I was interested in the apartment and would like to go forward with it. He was happy to rent it to me, but there was a HUGE problem. He wanted someone that would take up the apartment immediately and I was not ready to move in till 48hrs before my resumption, which was 3 weeks from the initial date he’d have preferred. We went back and forth and his standard remaineth. Here are my options, I either pay for the month I won’t be staying there (€690/month) or he rents it out to someone else. I did not like those options.
As an analytical guy, I started looking for Airbnb options to stay while I find a decent apartment. But on combing through my options in Airbnb, the cheapest apartment for 35 nights was a single room in an apartment that’s 1hr away from my work at a whooping sum of £970. What?!!!!!!!! How can I be staying in a single room, sleeping on a single bed??? At this age and time???? No way. I retorted to myself. I went for the next available double bed on Airbnb and I realised I’d have to pay £1600 for 35 nights. That was when I realised, my egungun needs to be careful ‘cos I’m on the expressway. The harsh reality was that paying for the month I won’t be staying in the previous apartment is way economical compared to the best Airbnb has to offer. With my tail in between my legs, I went back to the landlord and negotiated with him to pay for 3weeks and he agreed. So, I paid €510 to secure the apartment. My friend was handed the keys after the payment was made and I was just full of gratitude. At long last, I was over the moon that I had settled my Dublin accommodation from the UK. Only legends can do that, and we are a dying breed.
My resumption date was 02/03/2020, so I booked a flight to leave Glasgow, Scotland on February 29 for 1500. But for some weird reasons, flight got delayed and I eventually got to Dublin around 7 pm. I took a €50 taxi from the airport to the apartment where my friend was waiting for me to hand the keys. On getting to the apartment, I did not know the harsh realities of life were exchanging batons in my journey.
==================++++++++++++++++++++Intermission==========================
By the way, when my friend visited the apartment, it was a house share with 6-bedrooms and 2 showers with central heating. When I got to the apartment around 8 pm, I realised there was only ONE shower!!!! Can you imagine???????. As if that was not enough, the central heating was not functioning. Every housemate doubles as a minister of energy. They all have personal heat radiators they use in the room. And they dress like Eskimos to communal areas (kitchen, bathroom, living room etc) where there’s no heating. That night, I slept in a room without heating and the temperature was around 3 degrees or less. My room was so dirty. The bathroom was a mess. Used toilet rolls (like 5), empty body wash liquid (like 10) were all doing zoom conferencing in the bathroom. I was mad. But the big question is, who should be the deserved recipient of my anger? My friend (a lady) that could not confirm if there were 2 showers and the efficiency of the central heating or the Landlord that advertised central heating on the advertisement site but didn’t provide it? The house was a mess. It showed that the Landlord did not make any effort in anticipating my arrival. This is an apartment I was supposed to be paying €700/month exclusive of bills????? That very night, I started flat-hunting again!!!! Apparently, my friend was lied to about the apartment. She was told that there are 2 showers in the apartment and as a lady, I’m not sure verifying the bathroom in an all-men apartment is a good idea. So, she believed the Landlord. And concerning the central heating, the heater is installed but it was not just functioning. Knowing fully well that a standard viewing normally takes around 10mins, there was no way she could have verified the central heating. Not forgetting that we are both from countries, where it’s illegal to rent out an apartment without central heating, I would not have expected her to ask if the central heating was working
I texted the Landlord, he replied after 4 days to say the housemates should be responsible for buying oil for the central heating. Can you imagine the effrontery and audacity????? That was why I concluded that I have been gotten!!! (Won ti get me). In the UK, it would be illegal to rent out an apartment without central heating but guess in Dublin, anything goes. The challenge right now, is that I’d have to stay in the apartment till I get a new apartment. But the downside is that I stand the risk of paying another month’s rent in the apartment if I do not leave ASAP.
Living in the apartment was depressing. I leave home very early and come back home when I’m exhausted such that I just want to sleep. I had to wake up early to bathe to avoid traffic congestion in the bathroom. Did I hear you say, cook??? Nah, No way! Cooking requires you to be in a particular mental state that can’t be achieved in that apartment. My food largely involves sandwich and KFC…rinse and repeat! I remember a particular day that I went to KFC after work, had my fill, stayed in till they closed and bought another take-away. Can you imagine that height of frustration??? All these while, I was struggling to find my feet at work ‘cos I was lost. Lost!!!
=====================+++++++++++++++++++++INTERMISSION====================
I got another apartment and left my former house after just 4 nights. While the current house has central heating and makes sense, the hot water boiler is not working. Talk about frying pan to hot oil!!! I have seen it all. I could not even think of moving again. I had to go back to the way of my ancestors, the traditional way. So, I got a bucket and a bailer and the kettle in the kitchen was doing the job of the hot water boiler. Figure out the rest.
After a week of eating bread, bread and some more bread. I decided to go to a store to get pots and probably make a decent meal. I bought m sets of saucepans only to realise the cooker in my new apartment does not work with aluminium coatings. A sad case of money gone down the drain. I could exchange or return the saucepans from where I got it from, but I don’t have the receipt anymore. I have a terrible habit of not keeping receipts, so I guess that’s a good punishment for me. I had to buy new sets on stainless saucepans on the half chance that they might work. They did work.
Now, mans gradually settling into the work and just after an intensive 3-day of project meetings, COVID-19 became a pandemic and my hosting institution, rightly so, decided to shut down. Right now, I do not have a direction or a focus on what exactly I should be doing. All my tales of “remote working” have just been lounging on the streets of Twitter and the corridors of Netflix. Quite a start to my job, right? But here’s the good news, my boss sent an email two days ago to apologise for not reaching out concerning my project. He has promised to set up a meeting this week to discuss how to move my research forward. This would also involve a meeting with my task manager. Till then, I’m just sleeping, eating and chilling.
During this period, I have spent so much to the extent that my finances started experiencing climate change. Dublin & I are in an abusive relationship. It has been so lonely and boring without a community/family. It has been tough for me. It feels like being an orphan in a foreign land. But, I’m still trusting and hoping that the God who sets the solitary in families leads and settles me.
======================+++++++++++++TO JESUS, BE MY GLORY====================
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